Classical Music Pathfinder

See also: General Music Reference Sources

Books

The HarperCollins Dictionary of Music / Christine Ammer.
780.321 A518h, 1991 [INFORMATION DESK]

This handy dictionary includes over 3,500 entries, plus pronunciation guides for names and non-English terms that many similar publications lack.

International Who's Who in Classical Music.
780.922 INTERNATIONAL [REFERENCE]

Entries range from composers, conductors, arrangers, and managers to musicians, singers, writers, and soloists, incorporating career profiles and major achievements. It provides details of orchestras and festivals, and lists music libraries, conservatories, music organizations, and opera companies. It also covers major competitions and awards. Earlier editions were published as International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory (780.92 A1I61 [REFERENCE])

Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts.
780.25 MUSICAL [INFORMATION DESK]

Comprehensive directory for classical music, including managers, orchestras, opera and dance companies, choral groups, festivals and camps, awards and contests, schools, publishers and recording companies, state agencies, facilities, and media contacts. Even the advertisements for artists' managers are indexed, so contact information for leading instrumental and vocal soloists, and chamber ensembles is also provided.

The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers / edited by Julie Anne Sadie & Rhian Samuel.
780.92 A1N882 1995 [REFERENCE]

Includes biographical information and work lists for 875 women composers in the Western classical tradition.

Websites

All Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com

This amazing site provides detailed information on all aspects of classical and popular music and jazz, with articles on virtually every imaginable musical style and sub-genre. The site is searchable by name, album or song titles, or classical works. Individual albums are rated, and individual tracks are listed with the track timings.

The Basic Repertoire on Compact Disc
http://jpl.coj.net/coll/musicref/BasicRepertoire.html

A listener's and buyer's guide to concert favorites and historically significant or representative compositions of the "Classical" tradition, spanning the Middle Ages to the present. The recordings were chosen to include the most music literature in the fewest number of compact discs, with as little duplication of repertoire as possible. Entries includes links to biographical information about the composers, links to retail information, and links to entries in the Jacksonville Public Library's online catalog.

Classical Music Recordings of Black Composers : a reference guide
http://astro.temple.edu/~rgreene/BlackComp/index.html

In addition to an extensive discography (pdf file), this personal website includes a "Composer Listing" of 120 composers of African decent, and related listings for "Reference Sources and Web Links," "Suggested Listening," and information about "Performers and Performances."

Gramophone: the Classical Music Website
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/

"Launched in April 2000, Gramophone Online includes a daily international classical music news service, unique online features and competitions, details of all Gramophone publications and and a section devoted to our annual Awards (recognised as the highest honours in the recording world).
"The site also hosts Gramofile, our online database of CD reviews stretching back to 1983 and which is the world's largest archive of record reviews."
Note that this is the online version of the UK's Gramophone magazine, so some of the recordings reviewed may not be available in the United States.

The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/

An "archive of texts to Lieder and other Classical Art Songs (Kunstlieder, Mélodies, Canzoni, Romansy, Canciones, Liederen, Canções, Sånger, Laulua, etc.) as well as many choral works and other types of classical vocal pieces. It includes thousands of translations to English, French, German, Spanish and other languages."

MusicalAmerica.com : the Business Source for the Performing Arts
http://www.musicalamerica.com/

Although the news articles and complete database listings are available by subscription only, free portions of the site include: Calendar of Events, Career Center, Directory Articles, Industry Links (providing email and website addresses for performing and artists' management organizations), and Press Releases.

New Music Database : American Concert Music Since 1980
http://theory.music.indiana.edu/newmusic/index.htm

A useful listing of American composers, active from 1980 forward, who are included in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and/or in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. The database is sortable by name, by composition titles, and by dates, and links are provided to composers' home pages, detailed work lists, discographies, and interviews. There are pre-sorted lists of women and African-American composers, as well as for composers of specific genres and performance media (e.g., film music, opera, choral, piano, etc.). Although the linked composer biographies are available only to subscribers of Grove Music Online, the Library has the same biographies in book form.

The Rough Guide to Classical Music
http://www.roughguides.com/music/classical.html

Includes biographies of leading American and European composers, with discussions of works and recommended recordings. The site makes it possible to sort out lists of composers by era, or by region or country.